The first complete face transplant preformed in the US has given a middle-aged woman, who had lost half of her face, a new chance at life.

Five years ago, a shotgun blast shattered Connie Culp's nose, cheeks, the roof of her mouth and one eye, leaving her a noseless figure that needed a tube down her windpipe to breathe.

Culp endured 30 operations to fix her face, her ribs were used to make cheekbones and her leg bones were used to form an upper jaw. She, however, was still unable to swallow food, breathe on her own, or smell.

About five months ago, doctors replaced 80 percent of Culp's face with bones, muscles, nerves, skin and blood vessels of a woman who had just died during a 22-hour operation.

“Here I am, five years later," Culp told the reporters in her first public appearance on Tuesday. She expressed her gratitude to the donor and her family, adding that she is now able to talk, smile, smell and taste her food again.

Doctors hope to perform another surgery to animate her muscles as soon as her circulation improves and her nerves regenerate.

The world's first face transplant was performed in France three years ago; two other such operations have been performed one on a Chinese farmer and the second of a French man. The US transplant was the fourth such transplant to be carried out in the world.

Doctors hope to perform another surgery to animate her muscles as soon as her circulation improves and her nerves regenerate.

It's really amazing. She can now perform basic functions like talking, eating food, and smelling. The future surgery will greatly improve her face aesthetically. So now she has a second chance at life.